Simone Biles withdrew from the team final at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo on Tuesday due to mental health issues. The 24-year-old gymnast struggled on the vault and left the floor, before saying she would not be competing in the remainder of the team final. The US eventually won silver in the team event.
So what was going on with Biles? The four-time Olympic gold medalist gave a glimpse of her issues when talking with the media.
“Today has been really stressful,” Biles said. “We had a workout this morning. It went OK, and then just that five and a half hour wait, I was just shaking, could barely nap. I have never felt like this going into a competition before, and I tried to go out and have fun. But once I came out, I was like, ‘No. (My) mental is not there.'”
Biles says she will take Wednesday off as a mental health day and then reassess if she can compete on Thursday in the individual all-around final.
Biles is qualified for the final in the all-around, vault, beam, uneven bars and floor exercise, all of which are individual events. She has been heavily hyped entering and during the Olympics, with many wondering whether she could top the five medals (four golds) she won at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.
